In Session: Thinking Critically
Critical Social Thought 252: Literature and Politics
As conversation jumps from Academy Award winner Helen Mirren to Salman Rushdie’s novel The Satanic Verses to the sexualized concept of “the Orient,” Five College visiting assistant professor Constantine Pleshakov pushes the far-reaching, all-inclusive dialogue even further. In Critical Social Thought 252: Literature and Politics, everything is up for discussion.
The syllabus for the class reads like a Who’s Who of twentieth-century novelists and includes not only Rushdie but also Yukio Mishima and Arundhati Roy. Students relate the literature to its historical context, approaching the novels as forums for political change. “Literature is politics, remember that,” Pleshakov repeats. What were the novelists’ causes? What were their solutions to the problems of the twentieth century? How do their stories reflect social realities?
Offering an inter-disciplinary major, the Critical Social Thought (CST) program prompts students to turn intellectual traditions upside down for a new look at social realities through the colorful lenses of history, anthropology, culture, and language.
One cold day last winter, class discussion revolved around Edward Said’s Orientalism as students discussed its place on the class syllabus. It’s not beach reading, but it’s useful in a theoretical way, claimed most readers. The book addresses the question of “Orientalism” as a construct and how this construct fits into our culture—from foreign policy to vacation destinations.
This is critical social thought at its organic roots: taking social theories and using them as a jumping-off point, rather than a destination. The conversation is lively and intelligent, with Pleshakov alternating between a precarious perch on his desk and pacing the crowded room, eyes widening as he emphatically nods the debate along.
“I was skeptical at first, jumping right into a 200-level critical social thought course with no prior experience,” says Natalya Goykhberg ’07. “As it turns out, CST is a combination of every discipline I have studied— philosophy, politics, literature, international relations, and history.” Lauren Senchack ’07 concurs. “I’m not an English major, so I was initially concerned about the level of discussion, but Pleshakov has a wonderful way of validating every person’s opinion.” — Stephanie Miedema ’07
Photo by Andrea Burns
